Unable to export conversations

[GrossLab]

Hello,

We are trying to export our public and private conversations from our Lab slack channel.
I dowloaded the Window .exe file, and followed these steps:

• Run wizard
• Export
• Login in Browser
• entered slack workspace name
• select a login option

Nothing happens at the end of this process, either slack starts on my computer or the slackdump terminal crashes. Am I doing something wrong?
Our official slack version (Pro) doesn't allow us to export our personal conversations, will this be possible with slackdump?

Thank you so much!
Sofia

[rusq]

Hi Sofia,

Yes, Slackdump allows you to export all conversations that you see in your client when you logged in under your user, DMs included.

I'd be happy to help but I need couple of more details:

• When you say "Select a login option" — what exactly you select?
• When you say "slackdump terminal crashes" — what does this mean? Is there an error printed? What is the error?

If the slack client is already installed, and you logged in, try logging in to Slackdump via the QR code — this is the easiest option:

• Read How to login using Mobile Sign In link.

Let me know how it goes?

[GrossLab]

Hello! Thank you for your reply!

This is what I am doing now, it goes a little bit better but it gets stuck eventually anyway :

(base) PS C:\Users\torchia\Downloads\slackdump_Windows_x86_64> ./slackdump workspace new gross-group
┃ Select login type for [gross-group]
┃ Clean browser will open on a Slack Login page.
┃ > Interactive          - Works with most authentication schemes, except Google.
┃   Automatic            - Only suitable for email/password auth.
┃   User Browser         - Loads your user profile, works with Google Auth.
┃   QR Code              - Login using Sign in on Mobile QR code, works with Google Auth.
┃   ------
┃   Cancel

↑ up • ↓ down • / filter • enter submit

In the interactive login, after I insert email and password, I am directed to this page:

Nothing happens if I wait a bit (maybe I should wait longer?) If I then press "use Slack in your browser" this is what appears on my terminal:

(base) PS C:\Users\torchia\Downloads\slackdump_Windows_x86_64> ./slackdump workspace new gross-group
2026-03-05 14:40:58 INFO  ℹ️ Initialising browser, once the browser appears,
                      │   login as usual
2026-03-05 14:42:22 INFO  ✅ authenticated time_taken: 1m23.4841081s
Success:  added workspace "gross-group"
(base) PS C:\Users\torchia\Downloads\slackdump_Windows_x86_64>

But then:

(base) PS C:\Users\torchia\Downloads\slackdump_Windows_x86_64> ./slackdump.exe workspace list
Workspaces in "C:\\Users\\torchia\\AppData\\Local\\slackdump":

=> gross-group (file: gross-group.bin, last modified: 2026-03-05 14:42:22)

Current workspace is marked with ' => '.
(base) PS C:\Users\torchia\Downloads\slackdump_Windows_x86_64> ./slackdump.exe export all
2026-03-05 14:43:14 INFO  temporary directory in use
                      └ tmpdir: C:\Users\torchia\AppData\Local\Temp\slackdump-947056
2026-03-05 14:43:14 INFO  running export...
O  (0/-) [0s] 2026-03-05 14:43:14 WARN  channel not found or user not in channel, skipping
                      └ channel_id: all
2026-03-05 14:43:14 ERROR 006 (Application Error): export failed: error indexing
                      │   channels: no data found.
(base) PS C:\Users\torchia\Downloads\slackdump_Windows_x86_64>

The Automatic login mode gets stuck here for minutes, I need stop the terminal myself after sometime:

(base) PS C:\Users\torchia\Downloads\slackdump_Windows_x86_64> ./slackdump workspace new gross-group
Workspace "gross-group" already exists. Overwrite? (y/N) y
⣻ Logging in to Slack, it will take 25-40 seconds

The User Browser and the QR code login modes give me the same results as the first mode.

Thank you so much for your support!
Sofia

[rusq]

Hey Sofia,

The authentication completes successfully, you're on the right track. No need to reauthenticate.

To export all channels, you need to run:

slackdump export

The error happens because you invoke it with "all" at the end. Slackdump tries to find a channel with ID="all" in your channels, and, of course, fails.

Have a look at export usage manual to learn more.

To summarise

1. Use "Interactive" login, enter details, click on "Open Slack In your browser", exactly as you listed in your message
2. Run slackdump export to export.

More flex

If you want more flexibility, i.e. to be able to run incremental archives, you can run slackdump archive -o my_archive — it will create a database with the messages.

Then you can run slackdump resume my_archive, to load new messages from workspace that appeared there after the first "archive".

After that you can convert it to export format: slackdump convert -f export my_archive

To view the export or archive, you can run slackdump view my_archive

I'm using my_archive as an example, substitute it with the actual directory or ZIP file name.

[GrossLab]

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your quick reply. Conversations and metadata are stored in .json files, is this the only available format for exporting conversations?

Thanks again!
Sofia

[rusq]

Hello Sofia,

The export format does store data in JSON, it's a reproduction of Slack's native export format.

Slackdump can store data in the following formats:

format	storage	to create	to convert to
archive	database	slackdump archive	slackdump convert -f database "source"
chunk	gzip compressed JSON	slackdump archive -legacy	slackdump convert -f chunk "source"
export	json	slackdump export	slackdump convert -f export "source"
dump	json	slackdump dump	slackdump convert -f dump "source"

In addition, the dump data can be formatted as CSV, or Text, with slackdump format but this feature is quite clunky, rudimentary, and haven't received enough love. I should get back to it one day.

Links:

• Feature comparison
• read more on convert command

I must ask what are you planning to do with the archive?

• Load it into Mattermost or another Slack instance? Use "export" format
• Store locally and use as a knowledge base? "database" would suit this better, but any other format will be understood by the viewer (use slackdump view <archive>.
• Analyse with AI? Only "database" format is supported, the README has guidance on using slackdump mcp sever with agents.

[GrossLab]

Thank you so much.
We would like to save our conversations for future reference in case we decide to move out from the workspace. We'll keep the JSON format.